PillowRock
Regular
This doesn't strictly fit the "Books, TV shows & films" label, but live theater seemed a better fit here than in "Off Topic". If the mods disagree, that's fine.
Anyway, The RSC is in residency here at the U for a couple weeks. They are doing several performances of each of 3 plays and doing some workshops with the theater department. I just got back from attending a performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor (by the time we went to get tickets the midweek matinee was the only performance of that play that wasn't already sold out). I have seen and / or read relatively few of the comedies, and this wasn't one of them. It was great fun, lots of laughs (some of them purely from the strength of the performances, in places that most wouldn't necessarily find funny when reading the play). They chose to stage it in costumes of 1930's -> 1940's England.
The night before last afew of went to see Coriolanis. I have read and / or seen more of the tragedies (those seem to the ones that we get directed to first), but not this one. Getting to see a Shakespearean play when you aren't sure what is going to happen (except that, since it *is* a tragedy, you have fair idea of the general direction) is an interesting experiance. For those that don't know (and I didn't) Coriolanis is set in ancient Rome, circa 490 BC. The costuming etc. of the production was feudal Japanese, however, with the percussion based stage music that is appropriate to that venue. That was actually quite effective. There was thing in their staging wasn't consistent with the feudal Japanese setting (besides all of the dialog references to Rome etc.), there were some relatively modern firearms (20th century carbines and revolvers) involved. Most of the combat was done with katanas, though.
The third play they are doing is something by Salman Rushde (sp?); Midnight's Child, or something like that. I'm skipping that one. At $64.25 per ticket, I'm just not quite that motivated to see that one as well.
The performances were *all* superb. Well, that's why you are willing to pay that much for tickets (*and* take a half day off work when you need to) to see the RSC, right?
Some of the transformations of the same actors from the one show to the other were quite extreme.
Anyway, I highly recommend seeing one of their productions to anyone with the opportunity. Of course, you probably didn't need me to tell you that. Did you?
Anyway, The RSC is in residency here at the U for a couple weeks. They are doing several performances of each of 3 plays and doing some workshops with the theater department. I just got back from attending a performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor (by the time we went to get tickets the midweek matinee was the only performance of that play that wasn't already sold out). I have seen and / or read relatively few of the comedies, and this wasn't one of them. It was great fun, lots of laughs (some of them purely from the strength of the performances, in places that most wouldn't necessarily find funny when reading the play). They chose to stage it in costumes of 1930's -> 1940's England.
The night before last afew of went to see Coriolanis. I have read and / or seen more of the tragedies (those seem to the ones that we get directed to first), but not this one. Getting to see a Shakespearean play when you aren't sure what is going to happen (except that, since it *is* a tragedy, you have fair idea of the general direction) is an interesting experiance. For those that don't know (and I didn't) Coriolanis is set in ancient Rome, circa 490 BC. The costuming etc. of the production was feudal Japanese, however, with the percussion based stage music that is appropriate to that venue. That was actually quite effective. There was thing in their staging wasn't consistent with the feudal Japanese setting (besides all of the dialog references to Rome etc.), there were some relatively modern firearms (20th century carbines and revolvers) involved. Most of the combat was done with katanas, though.
The third play they are doing is something by Salman Rushde (sp?); Midnight's Child, or something like that. I'm skipping that one. At $64.25 per ticket, I'm just not quite that motivated to see that one as well.
The performances were *all* superb. Well, that's why you are willing to pay that much for tickets (*and* take a half day off work when you need to) to see the RSC, right?
Anyway, I highly recommend seeing one of their productions to anyone with the opportunity. Of course, you probably didn't need me to tell you that. Did you?
